Natsu was currently a man on a mission. He knew the location of Jackal's hideout and he wasn't planning on letting Jackal slip away.
The minute he knew of Jackal's hideout and temporary home, one of the abandoned buildings by the dock in the same block that Natsu was sure contained Tartaros' base; he had headed straight for a car.
Now as he sped down the road with both the lights and sirens on he realized just how unprepared he was for going after Jackal. He only had a single gun and a pair of cuffs and that was it. No bullet proof vest in case Jackal was armed, which he most likely was, and he had no potential backup if something went wrong. He hadn't exactly thought this through, but nothing was going to stop him now.
He knew where Jackal was and was somewhat prepared to confront, and hopefully, arrest him.
Maybe he should've called Erza or Gray, or even Makarov, but at the movement he was preoccupied with coming up with a plan to take Jackal down quickly before gun fire could be exchanged.
He was so lost in his thoughts he almost didn't hear his phone ringing, until he realized he didn't have the radio on so he shouldn't be hearing some sort of tinkling jingle.
Keeping one hand on the wheel, he dug through his pocket until he found his phone. Pulling it out he looked at caller ID and was surprised to see it was Lucy, he couldn't think why she would be calling him but at least he could tell someone where he was going. Now if he didn't make it back soon enough he could hope that someone would come and get his body.
Okay, scratch that, now was not the time to be pessimistic. He was going to be fine, or at least be able to make it out in one piece. That seemed like a reasonable hope.
Realizing the phone was still ringing Natsu accepted the call before his phone went to voicemail.
/
Lucy wasn't worried and she sure as hell wasn't paranoid even though she had found Natsu's desk empty and when she had asked if he had went home everyone just kind of shrugged. Even the two supposed friends of his didn't know.
So, yes, she might've thought of the worst possible options that could've happened to him but that didn't mean anything. She just wanted to talk to his about his plan to catch Jackal before he could run off and do something stupid and rash.
She had called him just to see where he was and confirm he wasn't off doing something completely stupid. Yes her heart did start to thump in her chest a little when he wasn't picking up on the first few rings like usual, and yes she might have started imagining him in the worse possible situations that would lead to him not picking up. But that didn't mean she was worried since there was no conceivable reason for her to be worried about- and oh thank heavens he picked up.
"Natsu" Lucy said, letting out a sigh of relief before she could stop herself. She hadn't been worried, just concerned.
"Heartfilia" Natsu answered sounding like his normal self which meant he must be fine. "What's the matter? You sound tense."
"Oh it's nothing I was just calling to see-" Lucy began before stopping suddenly when she recognized what the background noise was from Natsu's end. It was police sirens. "Where are you?"
"Uhh, I might be heading towards Jackal's hideout to arrest him." The line went silent.
"You're doing what?!" Lucy screamed into the phone, effectively breaking the silence.
"Okay just hear me out Heartfilia" Natsu said as he tried to find the right words to try and calm Lucy down. "I found out where Jackal is and I decided I should bring him in now before he finds out about Marde. It's a good idea okay."
"I don't think this is a good idea! You didn't even tell anyone about this did you?" Lucy asked, her voice getting higher and higher as she tried to control her anger. "No one knew where you were when I asked them."
"Well I did kinda forget to tell anyone-wait, why were you asking people where I was?" Natsu asked, breaking off his previous statement when the implications of Lucy's words sank in.
"That doesn't matter right now. How did you even manage to figure out where Jackal was anyway?" Lucy asked as she began to pace up and down behind Natsu's desk.
Natsu was quiet for a few minutes after Lucy's question as he seemed to mull over whether or not to tell her. Lucy was left with hearing the sound of police sirens in her ear before he finally answered her.
"I got the information from a friend."
"What kind of friend?" Lucy asked, while she had mainly ignored it during most of the case, she had figured Natsu had some sort of ties to the underbelly of Magnolia.
"It's not important."
"Do you really trust this person to not be leading you to your death?" Lucy asked, fear was beginning to rise in throat. She should really be calling someone, Erza or Gray; perhaps they would know what to do. Maybe she should be trying to figure out where the hell Natsu was heading too.
Natsu was quiet once again at this question but he answered the question quicker than the last.
"I'd trust them with my life."
"Please tell me someone is with you" Lucy said, hoping that at least he had been smart enough to bring someone with him on this little chase of his. He did have a point that about catching Jackal before he found out about Marde's arrest, but at the same time she was worried he would rush in and end up running into trouble.
"No one is with me" Natsu said. "I mean, I didn't even tell anyone I was going after Jackal. Well except for you."
"What the hell do you think you're doing Natsu?! You could get hurt; there could be other Tartaros members there with Jackal. You could be walking into a potential war zone by yourself!" Lucy was beginning to mull over her options, she could call Makarov since he was the only number in the FBI she had that wasn't Natsu and tell him what was going on. Or she could try to get Natsu to tell her where he was heading and catch up with him, which seemed like a bad idea though at the moment she was favoring it the most.
"Well when you put it like that it does sound kind of reckless" Natsu said, starting to sound a little sorry for running off without thinking everything through.
"You think?" Lucy said as she made her decision. She was going to go after him and she'd also call Makarov about what was going on, maybe. Heading towards the elevator she asked her next question. "Where are you heading?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"So at least one person knows where you're going" Lucy said as she stepped into the elevator. Pressing the button for the ground floor, she began to tap her foot as she considered her plan.
"Im-" Natsu said before pausing for a few seconds. The line was silent as Lucy stepped out of the elevator and headed out of the building.
"Come on Natsu" Lucy said as she tried to flag down a taxi. "Just tell me, someone needs to know where you are since you're kind of possibly walking into a lion's den."
"It's more like I'm walking into a gang den but-"
"Natsu, now is not the time, tell me where the hell you're heading!" Lucy commanded as she finally flagged down a taxi.
"Okay, okay" Natsu said. "I'm heading towards 231 Bay Drive."
As Lucy got into the taxi she asked "Is that the road by the docks?"
"Yes."
"Okay, I'm heading towards 231 Bay Drive" Lucy said, covering the phone as she talked to the driver.
"Ya sure about that lady?" the diver asked, not like there was any concern in his voice.
"I'm sure you don't care that much about leaving me off there" Lucy said as she kept her hand over the phone, there was no need for Natsu to know she was going after him.
"Eh, ya got me there" the driver said before speeding away from the curve.
"Heartfilia?" came a muffled voice from Lucy's phone.
Taking her hand away from the phone she put it back up to her ear. "What is it Natsu?"
"What exactly are you doing?" Natsu asked, suspicion was in his voice, he might've heard her talking to the taxi driver.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked, feigning innocence.
"Listen Heartfilia, don't follow me. If you gotta tell someone then do that, but don't come after me. I don't want you to get caught up in anything" Natsu said and he sounded genuinely concerned. Well fine, he deserved to feel that way after he had done the same to her.
"Okay then, I'm going to tell someone" Lucy said and before Natsu could say anything else she hung up. Taking a deep breath she considered who she should call. It's not like she had much of a choice though, she only knew Makarov's number so it looked like that be who she'd be calling. But maybe not until she was closer to Jackal's hideout, just in case.
/
Throwing his phone into the seat next to him, Natsu muttered under his breath as he turned down Bay Drive. Why did Lucy hang up on him like that? He knew he had heard her talking to someone and it had sounded like she had gotten into a car at some point…
Shit, was she going to follow him to Jackal's hideout? That was not good, not good at all.
"Shit" he groaned as he hit his hand against the steering wheel. He had turned the lights and sirens off a few miles back to not draw attention to himself as he pulled into the abandoned street.
Parking up at the curb in front of 231 Bay Dive he sat in the car for a few seconds to prepare himself. Putting his hand on the gun at his side he took a deep breath and told himself he would be fine.
He knew he hadn't been given the wrong address, they wouldn't have lied to him and it was unlikely they would have alerted Jackal to his arrival so at least he didn't have to worry about an ambush. There was no point just sitting in the car until someone else arrived, and he had a bad feeling that someone might be Lucy.
Opening the car door, he got out of the car before closing it softly behind him. Jackal might have not noticed he was here yet and Natsu wanted to keep it that way. The best way to approach this was to catch Jackal off guard so he didn't have the opportunity to fight back.
Walking up onto the cracked sidewalk, Natsu took a quick look at the building. The two story building seemed weathered and unkempt, a good portion of the windows were either broken or completely missing and the small plot of grass in front of the building was overgrown with weeds. The place certainly looked like no one was living in it, but it didn't seem like criminals could be too picky about where they lived especially if they were supposedly missing and also a bomber.
Standing in front of the door Natsu raised his hand and knocked on the door twice, loud. If Jackal was inside then he should've heard him. He didn't really need to knock on the door; it was an abandoned building so he could've just walked in. But since he knew someone lived here he felt like it was kind of wrong to just barge in.
Natsu counted to ten before he peeked in through one of the cracked windows. He couldn't see any movement inside but it was so dark in the building he couldn't see much of anything.
Turning the door knob he found it was unlocked, so that means he could just waltz on in. Pushing the door open, Natsu cringed when the door caught on the floor and make a loud scratching noise that the entire block had probably heard.
A part of Natsu was screaming at him that this could be a trap. Jackal had to have heard him when he knocked on the door, yet Natsu hadn't heard a single noise from the building. Hell, Natsu was even being loud now as he opened the door. Unless Jackal wasn't here, he must know Natsu was in his own house by now.
Despite the rational side of his brain is telling him maybe he should call and wait for back up, the side of his brain he normally listens to insists he'll be fine and he doesn't have time to wait especially if Jackal knows he's here.
So, naturally, Natsu keeps on walking in until he's standing in the front room of the building. The door is still open behind him but he doesn't feel like he should close it, it would give an easy escape route in case of gunfire. He lets out a sigh of relief when nothing happens after he had stood in the doorway for a good thirty seconds, looks like Jackal hadn't somehow rigged the door to a bomb.
Keeping his hand on his gun, he surveyed the room. There was a staircase up to the second floor to the right of him, a small table with a single chair was shoved into the back of the room beside a door, old take out containers were balanced in one big pile on the table and the rest of the room was varying amounts of bare.
To the left of him was an old sofa that looked like it had been pulled out of a dumpster, there was an antenna TV sitting precariously on a milk crate and a sort of make shift table was in between the sofa and TV. It was a plank of wood on top of more milk crates.
It was only then when Natsu noticed the mess on the make shift table. Taking a step closer to it, he took out his gun. Wrapping his hand firmly around it he kept his grip tight as he looked over what was sitting on the table. It looked like it was a half built bomb, it seems like Jackal had another bombing planned.
Natsu was about to take a closer look at it when he heard the creak, from what must've been the stairs, coming from behind him.
Whipping around Natsu turned around and came to face the person who must be known as Jackal. He looked just like he did in the picture they have of Jeremy Nico, a perfect match except for the longer hair the man had tied up in a ponytail.
"Are you Jeremy Nice, otherwise known as Jackal?" Natsu asked a he began to raise his gun slowly.
"What of it?" Jackal asked as he stepped down another stair, running his hand down the banister as he did so.
"You're under arrest for the bombing of city hall as well as other bombings from four years ago" Natsu said as he kept his eyes on Jackal. His gun was only half way raised and he wasn't pointing it at Jackal, at least not yet.
Jackal remained silent as he took another step down so that he was parallel to Natsu. He continued to stare at Natsu silently as he did this.
Tightening his grip on his gun Natsu was considering saying something else to Jackal when he noticed the slightest bit of movement and the flash of metal.
Natsu didn't even bother to aim as he drew his gun up and leveled it to Jackal as the other man did the same. Pulling the trigger, Natsu heard the gunshot ring in his ear before another one joined his in seconds.
It seemed that maybe he should've forgone that knock; it must've given Jackal the time to bring a gun with him.
Natsu's brain wasn't processing fast enough as time seemed to slow as the two bullets headed towards their target. Natsu could smell the gunpowder as it clogged his nose, all the while he felt the gun vibrate slightly from the shot. His brain was processing all of that, but not processing enough to convince his legs to move so he could dodge the bullet.
Natsu's bullet made contact with Jackal's lower arm, causing the man to drop his gun at the sudden pain that shot through his arm.
Natsu could see the blood soaking through Jackal's sleeve before searing pain shot through his chest.
"Shit" was all that escaped his throat as he felt his legs turn to jelly. Struggling to keep his balance and his grip on his gun, Natsu tried to keep his eyes on Jackal despite his the edges of his vision beginning to blur from the pain that was coming from his abdomen and spreading throughout his chest.
Pressing his hand to his lower abdomen, he felt the stickiness of the blood as it spread through to his shirt and clung to his hand. He could feel it dripping down to his leg as he tried to add more pressure to the wound.
Trying to raise his gun to Jackal again he felt his legs begin to wobble and his vision was blurring even more. His arm was shaking despite his best efforts to keep it straight, he could work through this wound. He had been through worse before and had still been able to continue with what he had needed to do.
Gritting his teeth, he kept his arm as straight as possible and was about to press down on the trigger again when a shot of blinding pain shot through his entire body. Natsu's head was beginning to spin and his vision was starting to fill with black spots. Looking down at his wound he saw that a decent puddle of blood was on the floor and that the spot on his shirt was the roughly the size of a small plate.
He felt his legs shake one last time in warning before giving out on him. First he fell down to his knees before he slumped down to the floor as the black spots began to fill his vision.
The cool concrete floor met his cheek as he heard his own ragged breathing in his ear; the bullet had to have hit an organ. No, he knew it hit something. It was practically impossible to shoot at someone's abdomen and not hit something.
He could hear sounds of something scrapping on wood; it must be Jackal picking up his gun. Looks like Natsu was about to be finished off or Jackal was going to flee and Natsu would never find him again.
Natsu was definitely going to be a goner if no one showed up, and if he died it would be his own damn fault for being too much in a hurry to actually get on some gear. It was fitting to him that his last thoughts would be him chastising himself for being too damn stupid.
Just as he was losing his conscious he swore he heard footsteps approaching him.
/
Lucy had called Makarov right as the cab had turned down Bay Drive. He had told her someone would be over in a matter of minutes.
As she had rushed to pay the driver and get out of the cab she heard two gunshots. As she jumped out of the cab and had rushed to the open the cab driver sent her one last look, probably a confused one since she was running towards gunshots, and sped off.
Bursting in through the open door the first thing she noticed was Natsu laying face down on the floor in a puddle of blood, most likely his own. She didn't bother to see if anyone else was in the room as she rushed over to him, rolling him over so she could find the injury.
A gunshot wound was on his upper right abdomen and it had definitely hit an organ with a lot of blood flow based on the amount coming out of the wound. He had to have lost at least two pints, right now he was in shock and he couldn't risk losing too much more.
Pressing her hands over his wound as she tried to slow the blood flow she heard the creaking of something, most likely the wooden stairs she had only barely noticed when she had ran inside, and realized that she didn't know where Jackal was.
Taking one of her blooded hands off of Natsu's wound; she peeled the gun out of Natsu's grip and turned towards the source of the noise. Her grip on the gun was loose, and she was shaking slightly from the adrenaline of the moment.
She was facing a man standing on the stairs with a gun being held loosely by an arm that was bleeding; she was looking at the man who must be Jackal.
Keeping the gun aimed at the man she waited to see if he would move, she tried to open her mouth to say something to him but nothing would come out.
Pressing down harder on Natsu's wound she hoped that whoever Makarov had called was almost here.
The next few seconds happened quickly, but felt like it had actually taken centuries. Lucy watched as if in slow motion as Jackal moved the gun in his hand up to point at Lucy, despite his shaking arm.
Lucy reacted instinctively before she could even thinking about it. Her grip tightened around the gun and her finger pressed down on the trigger. A loud bang filled her ears as the bullet headed towards Jackal.
Then, in slow motion, Jackal was falling back against the wall as a shocked expression crossed his face. He slid down the wall seconds later leaving behind a trail of blood.
Lucy could still hear the bang in her ear but at the moment she had more things to worry about. Slipping off her jacket she pressed it down over Natsu's wound as added more pressure with her hands.
She could feel the stings of tears in her eyes as she listened to Natsu's labored breath. Pressing down harder, she could feel them falling down her face as the sound of sirens filled her ears.
A/N: Next weeks chapter will be last. I want to thank everyone who has read this so far and for all the comments, they really keep me going. If you're wondering how I can tie everything up in one chapter, it will all be explained next week.